SM Entertainment Debunks ‘Groundless Rumors,’ Allegations of Bullying Concerning New Girl Group Hearts2Hearts

SM Leisure has taken a agency stance in opposition to what it calls “groundless rumors” and allegations of bullying surrounding its newly debuted woman group, Hearts2Hearts.Hearts2Hearts, an eight-member woman group consisting of Jiwoo, Carmen, Yuha, Stella, Juun, A-na, Ian, and Ye-on, made their extremely anticipated debut on Feb. 24 with their first single album, The Chase. Nonetheless, the thrill surrounding their launch was shortly dampened by severe accusations in opposition to one of many members, Ian.Nameless on-line posts claimed that Ian had a historical past of college violence and inappropriate conduct throughout her center faculty years. The allegations included incidents of bodily altercations, resembling throwing a rock at a fellow scholar and breaking a fish tank. Moreover, Ian and her associates had been accused of participating in sexual harassment in direction of academics.These accusations gained traction when people claiming to be Ian’s former classmates got here ahead to help the allegations, offering pre-debut images as proof.Moreover, netizens additionally blasted Ian for a pre-debut social media put up the place she used ableist language. The put up confirmed Ian posing with a good friend, accompanied by a caption that learn “two disabled individuals” in Korean.You will need to word that in Korea, “jangae-in” is used to check with disabled individuals. Many college students use it as a joke, however it nonetheless does have ableist connotations. Nonetheless, some netizens later claimed it was her good friend who wrote the caption and never Ian, although that can also be unconfirmed.In response to the rising controversies, SM Leisure issued an announcement declaring that they’ve “confirmed that posts containing false data, malicious slander, and defamation of character are being posted and distributed” about Hearts2Hearts. The corporate emphasised that it has initiated authorized proceedings to deal with these points.The leisure big made it clear that it might not tolerate the unfold of unverified data and would take authorized motion “with out leniency or settlement.” SM Leisure additionally famous that it’ll proceed to do its finest to “shield our artists.”